Detroit City Council to vote today on casinos

The City Council is expected to vote today on Mayor Dennis Archer's plan for a 57-acre casino district near the Detroit River next to downtown.

Archer has given the council a deadline of tomorrow to pass the plan or risk torpedoing the project, with its promise of 11,000 full-time jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues for the struggling city of 1 million people.

"Detroit cannot continue to be a boom or bust economy," Archer told the council Tuesday. "There is no other economic development initiative ... that provides that kind of opportunity."

He said the timetable to present a plan to the Michigan Gaming Control Board is "extremely tight" and a failure to act this week would endanger the financing and embolden casino opponents statewide.

While some opponents fear casinos will cause crime and feed gambling addiction and others object to a site so close to the precious waterfront, race has emerged as the most contentious issue.

The issue has pitted Detroit's second black mayor against those who say he is ignoring the needs of the city's black majority.

They fault Archer for passing over black applicants in awarding the three available casino franchises to the MGM Grand, Atwater/Circus Circus and Greektown/Chippewa Indians groups.

"Imagine a city that's 80-percent white ... and a white mayor and 80- percent white council chose three African American casinos for their city," former U.S. Rep. Barbara-Rose Collins said at a council hearing "Can you imagine that in these United States?"

Business executive Don Barden, a former cable TV magnate whose casino application was one of those that Archer rejected, was blunter in remarks at the Shrine of the Black Madonna Church on Friday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Barden called Archer "a mis-educated Negro," adding, "We've got to get that sucker out of office."

"Making one African American richer does not constitute black empowerment," Archer countered. He said blacks and Indians together hold a majority stake in the Greektown casino group, and blacks are guaranteed a big piece of the action when it comes to contracts and hiring.

Archer's black credentials have faced a challenge before.

A former state Supreme Court justice, Archer won election with promises of building bridges to the city's predominantly white suburbs, in contrast to the confrontational style of his predecessor, the late Coleman Young.

The black empowerment is creating sharp divisions among Detroit leaders and serious grudges that will take a long time to heal, said political analyst Mario Morrow.

"I hope that they can get along after this," Morrow said.

If the casinos are eventually approved, Detroit would be the largest city in the United States with gambling.

Should the project clear all the political hurdles, it will be a major boon for the city and casino operators, analysts say.

"There is a real opportunity just given the sheer number of people that live in the Detroit metropolitan area and within a three-hour drive," said analyst David Anders of Credit Suisse First Boston.

04-09-98